Yep, you got me there; now I feel like a real idiot. Thankfully, I've yet to take that kind of idiocy into a classroom. However, I would wager that many so called teachers in China have done so, and having done so wouldn't give it a second thought.

I recently received an email from a teacher friend at a prestigious university in China. The email clearly outlined how he, as a coordinator, is shocked by what he has observed when evaluating teachers in their classrooms. Unfortunately, his hands are tied, and sadly his evaluations are a mere formality. Actually, it works both ways he tells me. Excellence is not rewarded and incompetence is ignored.

Is this what the English education scene is truly like all over China?